- A German modern pentathlete plummeted in her event when her Olympic horse refused to jump.
- Annika Schleu was left in tears as she scored zero points in one event, losing first place.
- Britain's Katie French went on to win the event. Schleu was 31st of 36.
An Olympic pentathlete who was in first place lost her grip on the gold medal Friday after her horse refused to jump.
Germany's Annika Schleu was in first place after the first two pentathlon events: fencing and swimming.
She had three to go: show jumping and the combined shooting-running portion known as the laser run.
-UIPM - World Pentathlon (@WorldPentathlon) August 6, 2021
Schleu's fortunes changed dramatically when it came to the jumping. She scored zero points when her mount, Saint Boy, refused to jump.
She was left cantering around the course in despair and eventually tears.
After the remaining events, she finished in 31st place in a field of 36.
Pentathletes do not bring their own horses to the jumping section but are instead randomly assigned one of 18 horses.
Saint Boy was also assigned to Gulnaz Gubaydullina of Russia, and similarly refused to jump, according to the Irish newspaper The Journal.
Gus Bruno, a producer for the Australian ABC News 7 channel, tweeted a clip of Schleu's agonizing jumping round:
-Gus Bruno (@gusbruno7) August 6, 2021
Schleu was having "an absolute real-life nightmare," the commentator said.
After the jumping round, Schleu placed 18th in the laser run.
Britain's Katie French took the gold medal, setting a new Olympic record.
Schleu had a grueling journey to the 2021 Olympics, narrowly missing out on a medal in 2016 after placing fourth. The pentathlon's official governing body, UIPM, called her "the undoubted star" of the event's first day in 2021.
Fresh from her fencing victory, she told UIPM on Thursday: "Amazing. This is the first time I finished first in fencing," adding later, "I will try to get my nerves to survive until tomorrow. It is just unbelievable. Everything I tried made sense, everything touched.
"If I am honest, I am a little scared as well," she continued. "I hope I manage to stay calm and concentrate on every discipline tomorrow. We don't know the horse and in the riding, dreams can just die. You can go from first to last place."